Hines: Top efficiency goal for tenants

Amenities also figure into the office design. There's a workout on the ground floor. Gym rats can run on the treadmill while gazing outside, rather than be stuck in a basement or windowless space as is common in other office complexes. Lockers, showers and secure bike racks are located in the nearby parking garage, and plans are in the works to provide a place for tenants to store their surfboards.

There's also an outdoor patio area for breaks and lunchtime and a garden between the garage and the second La Jolla Commons tower to the west. Some offices incorporate coffee bars and other gathering spaces for employees -- a subtle way to keep them on campus rather than losing them to off-site lunch spots. Cushman & Wakefield personnel were gathered around the coffee one recent late afternoon rather than absent at a Starbucks locale in the vicinity.

All these features aim at attracting tenants and encouraging them to renew their leases.

"Some deals get overly focused on economics and forget some of the small issues which end up being very important to long-term longevity," Twardowski said. "Rates go up and down, but a tenant is making a decision once every five to 10 years and they need to be quite happy with that situation."

Happiness isn't only a goal of the company executives but their employees, as well.

"That's where all these quality issues come into play," he said. "Happy employees that like where they work, like the environment where they work, get sick less often because the quality of the air and access to fresh air is better. Therefore they are less like to go quit and find another job."